The scientifically proven method for putting a fussy infant to sleep

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• crib
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Research shows that rocking a fussy baby to sleep in your arms and then sitting with them helps put them into a restful slumber.

It's a common source of aggravation for new parents: You've calmed your fussy infant, and you lay them down in their crib to sleep. now the wails have resumed. There might be a surprise up science's sleeve for you.

Researchers write in Current Biology on September 13 that a parent may quiet and lull a wailing infant to sleep by carrying the kid for approximately five minutes and then sitting for at least another five to eight minutes.

Previous work by the same group of scientists (SN: 4/18/13) demonstrated that holding a fussy newborn can reduce the infant's heart rate and help them relax. The new research aimed to find out what makes a fussy infant fall asleep and remain sleeping.

Twenty-one infants, ages zero to seven months, were monitored as they cried using heart rate monitors. The newborns' emotional states were tracked by video recordings made as their moms walked them around the room, sat holding them, and finally placed them in a crib. That way, the researchers could see, beat-by-beat, how the newborns reacted to different conditions, whether they were screaming, irritable, awake, or asleep.

According to Dr. Gianluca Esposito, a developmental psychologist at the University of Trento in Italy, "we evaluated the physiology behind these things that tend to be kind of general knowledge, albeit it's not really well understood why they function."

All of the babies' heart rates decreased and they quieted down when their moms scooped them up and carried them about for five minutes. Some of the infants really slept out. However, regardless of whether or not the infant was in a deep slumber, the researchers found that it responded to the parent's movements. If a parent turned abruptly while walking or attempted to set down the infant, the infant's heart rate increased.

The team noticed that sitting helps with the transition from walking to sleeping. Babies who had been held in their mother's arms for at least five minutes had a lower heart rate and remained asleep in their cribs. However, six infants whose mothers remained with them for less than five minutes had elevated heart rates after they were set down, and they awoke shortly thereafter.

Sarah Berger, a developmental psychologist at the College of Staten Island in New York who was not involved in the study, says, "I had not seen studies suggesting that newborns were reacting to mothers' activities when infants were asleep."

Berger and Esposito both emphasize that this technique is not a silver bullet for every infant. Even while it won't guarantee there won't be any restless nights, Esposito believes it's something parents can attempt. Although moms participated in this study, anybody an infant trusts can perform this task. He explains that this method will work "especially for very, very young children" if the caretakers are already familiar with the child.

CITATIONS

N. Ohmura et al. A method to soothe and promote sleep in crying infants utilizing the transport response. Current Biology. Published online September 13, 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.041.